"Born in Baltimore in 1838, Fanny Dunbar grew up in Louisiana to a family who survived the hardships of the Civil War. An intelligent, sensitive woman, Fanny experienced a radical life change when she met William Henry Corbusier, a Yankee officer and army surgeon. Her memoir recounts their subsequent forty-eight-year marriage." "The events of Fanny's life are sometimes amusing but more often dramatic. The Corbusiers moved frequently, but Fanny made moving an art form, often selling all the family possessions to avoid high shipping rates. She learned to cope with primitive living conditions and harsh climates. She raised five sons at posts with no schools. But she took her job as a mother seriously, providing her sons with a broad education and a nurturing home." "Corbusier's long life and her husband's thirty-nine-year career in the army (recounted in his memoir, Soldier, Surgeon, Scholar) allow the reader to experience the period between the Civil War and World War I in totality including her exceptional memories of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine Insurrection." "As the recollections of two people whose lives played out against a world panorama, Fanny's and William's memoirs together provide a rare opportunity to examine events of frontier military life from both female and male perspectives."--BOOK JACKET.

"Of more than ordinary interest" : the early life of Fanny Dunbar, Maryland, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, 1838-1869 -- "His pay was $125.00 a month and a ration" : en route to Fort McDermit, Nevada, April-December 1869 -- "Pi-u-je papoosee" : Fort McDermit, Nevada, January 1870-December 1871 -- "Dry salted codfish and a glass of champagne" : en route to Camp Date Creek, Arizona Territory, November 1872-January 1873 -- "Making soup from a stone" : Camp Date Creek, Arizona Territory, January-September 1873 -- "I felt like the lady in the circus" : back to Elmira, New York, September 1873-September 1874 -- "Sand and cedar" : following the trail of Colonel Dodge, New Mexico and Arizona Territories, September-October 1874 -- "John Brown had a little Indian" : Rio Verde Indian Reservation and Camp Verde, Arizona Territory, October 1874-May 1875 -- "The Almighty made it last" : Arizona Territory and Elmira, New York, May 1875-May 1876 -- "Proceed without delay" : Southern sojourns, May 1876-November 1877 -- "We could improvise anything necessary for living the simple life" : Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, November 1877-April 1880 -- "It's an Army wagon, and painted blue!" : Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, and Pine Ridge Agency, Dakota Territory, 1878-1880 -- "To worship in their own fashion" : an Oglala dance in the sun, Dakota Territory, June 1879 -- "Thirty miles from water and ten feet to Hell" : en route from Camp Sheridan to Fort Washakie, Wyoming Territory, April 27-June 1, 1880 -- "Heap papoose pretty soon" : Fort Washakie, Wyoming Territory, June 1880-October, 1881 -- "The woods here were a delight to us" : back east to Elmira and Fort Mackinac, Michigan, October 1881-September, 1884 -- "But of the ice we had none" : Forts Bowie and Grant, Arizona Territory, October 1884-October 1888 -- "He was not wicked but only unfortunate" : Forts Hays, Lewis, and Leavenworth, Kansas and Colorado, October 1888-July 1890 -- "All of my darling boys" : Fort Wayne and Mackinac, Michigan, July 1890-July 1893 -- "No way for husband and wife to live" : Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Fort Supply, Indian Territory, July 1893-September 1894 -- "The day was one never to be forgotten" : Michigan schools, New York City, and Fort Monroe, Virginia, September 1894-September 1897 -- "Raised beneath the flag" : Angel Island, California, October 1897-August 1898 -- "All my dear ones are with me in spirit" : Elmira, New York, August 1898-April 1900 -- "All the years of anxiety have broken me down" : Elmira, New York, April-July 1900 -- "The most beautiful blue I had ever seen" : Fort Columbus, New York; Fort Crook, Nebraska; and the Far East, August 1900-August 1903 -- "No te vayas de Zamboanga" : Mindanao, August 1903-August 1905 -- "They came in vintas decorated with red and white" : Zamboanga, Mindanao, September 1905-January 1906 -- "Home, sweet home" : United States, February 1906-June 1908 -- "And looked out at the moon and stars" : addenda by William Henry Corbusier, June 1908-February 1918.